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8 Responses to “Filibuster won the battle, but…”

Perry will probably win the battle here, but if he is called to account for bringing this back so soon in such shameful fashion, not the war. He is now the key to this ideological oppression of women in the name of an abstract “pro-life” commitment that neglects so many aspects of reproductive rights in realistic and just contexts. What an ignoramus who does not see that his action here to placate the far right puts him in the center of attention as the catalyst of such oppression, and thus the obvious object of justly-deserved ridicule.

(ii) I don’t think it’s fair to say that my post was ‘hasty’. The Lt. Gov. of Texas had declared the bill dead. Davis had given a victory speech. People in Texas were celebrating. The major news outlets were running the story that the bill had been killed and the filibuster successful. Of course, there’s now been another turnaround – and there may yet be more before this story is over. But if we wait until all the dust has settled to post on this story we’ll be waiting for. . .a very long time.

Also, Davis’ filibuster *was* successful. It represents a victory both for her and for the groundswell of public support in Texas. They stopped voting on the bill. The bill didn’t pass in the session, which was the point of the filibuster. The filibuster was successful.

Now it looks like the success of the filibuster doesn’t get us to the ultimate aim that everyone has in mind. But that doesn’t mean Davis, or all the people that rallied in Texas on Tuesday night, deserve congratulations any less. They were awesome, and they won the night. We should all congratulate them.

Perhaps the ultimate goal of the filibuster wasn’t to eliminate the bill, anyway. Texas Republicans hold enough seats that, if they’re persistent, they’re ultimately going to be able to pass just about whatever they want. Plus, the bill is probably unconstitutional and will be overturned by the courts as soon as it’s passed.

I thought that perhaps the point of the filibuster was to: (i) make people more aware of the mean-spirited legislation being passed by misogynists in government; (ii) dissuade Republicans from passing this type of legislation in the future by making it as difficult as possible for them to pass it (no one wants to spend 13 hours in a media circus for every piece of legislation); (iii) shower down embarrassment upon the Republicans trying to pass it; (iv) inspire people to get more involved in reproductive justice.